Halimat Tejuosho Dragged To Court Over Alleged Diversion Of Funds

The Gwagwalada Division of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court has ordered court processes to be served on Olori Halimat Tejuosho and her company, Haleems Nigeria Limited, over an alleged case of advance fee fraud, criminal diversion of funds, criminal breach of trust and cheating.

Naija News reports that in a detailed police investigation report signed by the police commissioner, Mohammed Yakubu, Tejuosho is being accused of defrauding her financier N436,325,000, which was earnt for the execution of a building contract awarded to her by the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs.

It was learnt that the police commissioner recommended Tejuosho’s prosecution after establishing a case of advance fee fraud, criminal diversion of funds, criminal breach of trust, and cheating against her.

This platform understands that Tejuosho approached one Emmanuel Suku to partner with her as a financier in May 2021 after securing a contract for the building of 500 units of houses at Karshi FCT, Abuja from the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs.

She was said to have requested from her financier, Suku, an initial amount of N300,000,000 and another N136,325,000, which were allegedly paid in tranches into both her personal and company accounts.

As contained in the police investigation report that was seen by Peoples Gazette, Suku revealed that going by the agreement of his partnership with Tejuosho, he was entitled to 30 % of the contract deal valued at N4.47 billion.

Suku, however, claimed that he started suspecting foul play when his partner, Tejuosho began to avoid him, and ask his brother to lead him to the project site to assess progress.

Tejuosho’s partner in the police document alleged that he eventually discovered the project had been at a standstill through a WhatsApp video call he had with his brothers at the site and also found out subsequently that the Niger Delta Affairs Ministry had withdrawn the project from Tejuosho and her company for breaching the terms of the contract.

The police investigation form said “No work has been done on the project site since the groundbreaking ceremony. An uncompleted gatehouse structure and two (2) shipping containers were seen on the site. There were, however, no workers, equipment and building supplies seen on the site.”

Meanwhile, Naija News understands that a chunk of Tejuosho financier’s funds was traced to one Royal Apparel, said to be her staff, with Heritage Bank account number 5100351905 which had received N200 million in tranches.

Also, investigations into her financial accounts disclosed that she used part of the project’s funds to purchase four exotic cars worth N150,000,000, luxury shoes and bags, designer watches, a soundproof generator for her house and other electronic items worth millions purchased from Cash ‘N’ Carry store.

It was also gathered that Tejuosho wired several millions of naira to an interior decorator identified as Ifeoma Vivienne Obilor, to pimp her residence in Peace Garden Estate located at Sangotedo in Lagos State with tasteful furniture worth a fortune.

Investigations as well revealed that Tejuosho used part of the project’s fund to give scholarships to 30 students attending Espam Formation University in Cotonou, Benin Republic, where she serves as a chancellor.

When confronted with the findings of the investigations, Tejuosho “could not give a satisfactory account of how she spent the money” and began making moves to flee the country to evade accountability to her financier.

The matter with suit no FCT/HC/CV/589/2022 has been adjourned till January 25 for further hearing.